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By Laura Donaldson
Film & TV Reporter
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Prince Harry's 60 Minutes interview with Anderson Cooper has left viewers divided after the father of two appeared on the CBS show to promote his upcoming memoir, Spare, with the sit-down airing in the U.S. on Sunday, January 8.
Prince Harry, 38, who recently starred in six-part Netflix documentary Harry & Meghan with his wife Meghan Markle, opened up to CBS host Cooper about everything from his relationship with the media to his desire for reconciliation with his brother and father.
He also revealed that he didn't accept his mother, Princess Diana, was actually dead until he was in his 20s, and accused his father King Charles' wife, Queen Consort Camilla, of leaking royal stories to the media in the past.
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Princess Diana died in a car crash in 1997 in Paris, France, but Prince Harry told Cooper than he believed for a long time that she may have faked her own death.
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"For a long time. I just refused to accept that she was gone. Part of [it was] she would never do this to us. But also, part of it maybe [felt like] this is all part of a plan," he said, adding: "For a time [I believed she was alive] and then she would call us, and we would go and join her."
He also spoke about his attempts to see proof of the car accident before finally accepting that she was gone, telling Cooper he was looking for "proof that she was in the car."
Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Harry's grandmother, passed away in September 2022 and, elsewhere in the 60 Minutes interview, Prince Harry told Cooper how he tried to connect with his brother, Prince William, to travel to the queen's Balmoral residence to see her before she died.
Prince Harry and Markle, who relocated to California in 2020, were in Europe for charity visits when, on September 8, 2022, it was announced that the Queen's doctors were "concerned" for her health.
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"I asked my brother—I said, 'What are your plans? How are you and Kate [Middleton] getting up there?'" Prince Harry told Cooper, continuing: "And then, a couple of hours later, you know, all of the family members that live within the Windsor and Ascot area were jumping on a plane together, a plane with 12, 14, maybe 16 seats."
Prince Harry confirmed he was "not invited on that plane" and a voiceover explained that by the time he reached Balmoral, alone, the queen had died.
Only the then Prince Charles and Princess Anne arrived in time to see the queen before she died, with other royal family members, including Princes William, Andrew and Edward also arriving too late.
In another section of the interview, Prince Harry confessed to "drinking heavily" in his younger years and using drugs in attempts to numb the pain over his mother's death, which happened when he was just 12 years old.
"It was obvious to us as kids the British press' part in our mother's misery and I had a lot of anger inside of me that luckily, I never expressed to anybody," he said. "But I resorted to drinking heavily. Because I wanted to numb the feeling, or I wanted to distract myself from how ... whatever I was thinking. And I would, you know, resort to drugs as well."
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Prince Harry said using psychedelics such as Ayahuasca, psilocybin and mushrooms helped him, but he would "never recommend people to do this recreationally."
Prince Harry's revelations about Diana, the Queen's death, and his past experiences with drugs left audiences split, as many applauded him for his honesty, while others chastised him for making private family matters public.
Taking to Twitter after the interview aired, viewers were certainly not shy to share their opinions on what they had watched.
One fan wrote: "The fact that Harry was unable to reach his grandmother's/Queen's side before she passed because his family got on a plane w/o him, forcing him to find his own way there, is just shameful & trifling! And they wonder why he left! #PrinceHarry #60Minutes."
While another posted: "Prince William excluding Prince Harry from the plane when they were traveling to see The Queen when she was about to pass is SO EVIL!!!! Like what type of devil!!!!! #60minutes."
"Good for Harry. Being silent is being complicit. Unfortunately his dad and brother are products of expectations of their roles in life, just like the Queen. Wishing Harry and Meghan and kids the best, and holding hope the royals can heal relationships," added a third.
Other viewers were less supportive, however, with one even accusing the royal of "selling out" his family.
"Harry is selling out his Mother, he's selling out his Father and he's selling out his brother, Prince William," they said.
Similarly, another viewer criticized Prince Harry by posting: "Silence is dignifying in this case, Poor William lost his mother now lost his brother at least he still has a loving family unlike Harry who lost his honour lost his family lost his country lost his soul."
"Harry's just behaving like a spoilt over privileged brat," wrote another unimpressed social media user.
Prince Harry, who shares son, Archie, and daughter, Lilibet, with his wife, announced that he would publish his memoir in a press release in July 2021.
As part of a multi-million-dollar deal with publishers Penguin Random House, Harry announced that he was writing the memoir "not as the prince I was born but as the man I have become."
He promised potential readers that the account would be a "firsthand account of my life that's accurate and wholly truthful."
Spare will be released globally on January 10.
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